I have a 2005 s type 3.0 with 210,000 miles. I am original owner. Hoping someone can point me in right direction. on my automatic trans gear shifter. The car has been fine but for an unexplained reason, when I went to start it the other day, the only gear illuminated on the selector is N . The lever if moved forward to PARK, locks in place and the only way to move it is to manipulate the safety lock. Then the lever will move freely, but no other gears are recognized and the car remains in neutral. So the car is parked in my garage with parking brake on. There are no codes popping up on obd.

I'm of course hoping this some sort of minor electrical issue but I am lost. I contemplated doing a battery reset on it to see what happens but decided to ask here first. Any help appreciated.

 

The very first thing: Check the two bolts that secure the shift cable to the transmission body.

 

Thank you. I will do that. So without a lift, I suppose I can put it up on jack stands to get under there. Is the cable attachment on driver side or passenger?

 

Drivers side.

Make sure both bolts are present and tight. I personally use a tad of loctite.

 

Jaguar issued a TSB (the ones nobody reads!) for this fault.

bob

 

ok, guys, you all were right. I got under there. One of the bolts is gone. The other very loose. The retaining bracket was riding in a diagonal, vs horizontal position. I reached up and pulled it back to horizontal (it moved easily) and it seemed to snap back into correct alignment with bolt holes and I think it shifted? but honestly I have never done this before so I don't know what to expect.
I need to get a replacement bolt and get them both tightened up obviously. Is this bolt a hardware store item? Can someone give me soecific specs on that bolt?
So....as I said, I'm not sure what to expect. It would be really fortunate if these two bolts replaced and tightened fixed the issue. I am puzzled why the car is in neutral on gear shifter and why the shift lever will not move unless a prying instrument is used to release some sort of thingy ma jig in there. I only observed a friend pry something while moving the shift lever out of park and then it moved freely without engaging any gear. The white plastic piece in there appears in tact.

Continued help appreciated.

 

Glad to hear you found the problem. Replace the one bolt, tighten them both up with some Loctite, and you should good to go.

Take the one bolt with you to the hardware store and they should be able to match up something. Don't go to the kind of place with all the hardware hanging in blister packs. Find an old-fashioned kind of place with drawers full of hardware, and a cranky old guy that runs the key machine. Don't know the exact size, but it should be a fairly common metric size. Once you find a match, post the size to help the next guy.

Don't worry about the N illuminated at the shift lever. Those indicators show the position of the transmission innards, not the lever itself. So even though you're moving the lever back and forth, the transmission is stuck in neutral. The indicator is operating correctly.

Same with the Park interlock. If you shift into P, the interlock will engage. It won't release automatically for now because the transmission (not shift lever) has to be in Park AND you have to step on the brake at the same time. The signal is never sent to retract the interlock because the transmission is in N, not P. Everything should be fine once you get the cable secured.

 

I believe it is a 8mm nut.

Take the one nut to Lowes or Home Depot and match it up.

 

I'd guess M6, so definitely take the one you have to the store.

 

I can certainly take the bolt with me. I was just a bit worried about what kind of tension there is there and difficulty in finding the holes again if both bolts are out. If its just resting there, I guess i'm ok to pull the remaining bolt.

Thanks to everyone. I hope when I put the two bolts back in, the trans is in park and the shifter in park and its all good. Sounds too easy.

 

thanks for this explanation. truly appreciated. starting to make sense to me. it will be awesome if just putting those bolts in gets everything communicting and functional again. I will post a follow up with bolt size and outcome.

 

M6x1.00mm

 

thank you very much !

 

Any big box auto parts store will also carry the bolt as well.

 

She's fixed!!!!!
Just wanted to say huge thanks to everyone who chimed in on this one and helped me solve it. It was indeed a matter of one missing bolt and the remaining one loose that caused the trans shifting problem. Bolts are M6 x 1.00mm for anyone encountering this issue in the future. It took me a few attempts to be able to get the replacement bolt started because it is a very tight squeeze in there, but I was able to to it.
It is amazing how many repairs I have made to my Jaguars over the years with the help of this forum. You guys are fantastic! I LOVE this group of people !

Thank you all again.

(p.s..... new car purchase price in 2005.....$53,000..........item that almost gave me another heart attack.....$0.50)

 

Do you have the length, too? M6 is the diameter, and 1.00mm is the thread spacing. The length will be needed for the next poor guy looking to purchase these bolts.

 

I'd guess 20 - 25mm but maybe jakesdad will confirm.

 

sorry......it was M6 x 1.00mm x 16